Is America Really So Divided?

Is the United States a bitterly divided country, split along harsh partisan political lines, or are we a nation composed mostly of moderates trapped between the extremists yelling from either end of the ideological spectrum?

A Polarized Nation?

“These issues aren’t organized in the same way for everyone, but the parties put them together in a very specific way, it just doesn’t fit libertarians, communitarians, and moderates,” Wagner says. These people are more likely to shift their party allegiance in the short term and that affects how candidates must sometimes do verbal gymnastics to tailor their messages to them without upsetting their base.